Toaster



Feb. 20, 1951 D. s. CAMPBELL '2,542,231

TOASTEZR Filed Oct. l0, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet l 27- fel-f l 85 INVENTOR. I o f3 5.500 CAMPBELL i as 1 BY ATT'Y Feb. 20, 1951 D. s. CAMPBELL 2,542,231

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.filed oct. 1o, 194e 4 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR. 5.50077 CAMPB-L TTY Feb- 20, 1951 D. s. CAMPBELL 2,542,231.

TOASTER Filed Oct. l0, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR. Z7. S0077 CAA/PBEM Feb. 20, 1951 D. s. CAMPBELL TOASTER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 10, 1946 fvg/fdl@ /23 /017 Il [Il] INVENTOR. 2 500 f7 CAM/@Baz BY A T T Patented Feb. zo, 1951 I'OASTER Date Scott Campbell,

Elgin, Ill., assigner to McGraw Electric Company. Elgin. Ill., a corporation vof Delaware Application October 10, 1946, Serial No. 702,514

3 Claims. (Cl. 99--391) My invention relates to automatic electric toasters and particularly to novel means for starting a toasting cycle.

An object of my invention is to provide a relatively simple manually-actuable means for initiating a toasting operation.

Another object of my invention is to provide a relatively simple manually-actuable means for causing movement of bread carriers from their normal non-toasting positions to their toasting positions.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel form of toaster handle, a part ot which is manually movable to start a toasting operation and to move the bread carriers into toasting position.

Other objects of my invention will either be apparent from a description of one form of device embodying my invention or will be pointed out in the course of such description and set forth particularly in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a View in vertical, longitudinal section through a toaster embodying my invention taken on the line I-I of Fig. 2,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal, sectional View therethrough taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, vertical, longitudinal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a vertical. lateral, sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig 1,

Fig. 5 is a view in front elevation of the toaster,

Fig. 6 is a view in perspective and on an enlarged scale, of the front handle with the parts shown in non-toasting position,

Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 except the center portion thereof has been moved into toasting position,

Fig. 8 is a view in front elevation of a metal insert,

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary, vertical, lateral section on an enlarged scale taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 1, the parts being shown in non-toasting position,

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary side view of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 9, with the parts shown in toasting position,

Fig. l2 is a side view of the parts shown in Fig. 11,

Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 12 except showing certain parts thereof in raised position,

Fig. 14 is a view in vertical, longitudinal section through a thermostatic time control taken on the line lt-M of Fig. 15,

Fig. 15 is a sectional view taken on the line i5-l5 of Fig. 14 with the parts shown in nontoasting position.

Fig. 16 is a sectional view taken on the line 5 IG--IS of Fig. 14,

Fig. 17 is a sectional view taken on the line ll-I'l of Fig. 14 with the parts shown in toasting position,

Fig. 18 is a sectional view taken on the line 1o |8-I8 of Fig. 14 with the parts shown in toasting position.

Fig. 19 is a view similar to Fig. 18 except that the parts are shown in the positions they will occupy when the bimetal has ilexed to full ex- 15 tent and the parts are in the positions shown by broken lines in Fig. 17, and,

Fig. 20 is a diagram of the electric circuits governing tlie operation oi' the toaster.

I have elected to show my invention as ap- 20 plied to a two-slice toaster comprising an outer casting 2| having in its upper wal two openings 23 through which slces of bread may be placed into position in the two toasting chambers within the casing and through which toasted pieces 25 of bread may be removed therefrom after having been toasted. The toaster assembly includes also a bottom plate 25, a rear lifting handle 2l, as well as a front lifting handle 29, the two being of substantially L-shape in vertical section as will be hereinafter more clearly set forth.

The toaster assembly includes also a plvotally mounted crumb tray 3l which is pivotally connected with a substantially stationary bottom closure 33 as is disclosed in a co-pending application, S. N. 639,018, filed February 4, 1946, and assigned to the same ass'gnee as is the present application. Reference may be hadlto said copending application for further details of the crumb tray mounting, construction and operation.

The toaster assembly includes a pair of planar vertical toast heating elements 35 for each of said toast heating chambers. Each of said toast heating elements comprise one or more sheets of thin suitable electric-insulating material, such as mica, on which may be wound a resistor strip 31 all in a manner now well-known in the art.

I provide in a two-slice toaster a pair of bread carriers 39 which are normally in their upper raised non-toasting position and which may be moved downwardly into toasting position by means comprising a motion-decreasing mechanism of substantially the following construction. A longitudinally extending lever arm 4l is piv- 55 otally mounted against a rear intermediate wall 43 and extends forwardly through a slot in a front intermediate wall 45. The arm 4| has integral therewith a short vertically depending arm 41 to the lower end of which is secured a biasing spring 49 having its other end secured to bottom plate 25 to normally cause a bias to be given to arm 4| in a counter-clockwise direction, the amount of turning movement thereof being limited by the length of the slot in the front intermediate wall 45. A short link 5| is pivotally connected to the arm 4| intermediate its ends and has a loose pivotal connection with the lower arm 53 of two arms including a second upper arm 55. Arm 53 is pivotally supported at its front end on a lug 51 while arm 55 is pivotally supported on its front end on a lug 59, lugs 51 and 59 being flxedly mounted against the front intermediate wall 45. The rear ends of arms 53 and 55 are pivotally mounted on a bracket 6|, which bracket 6|, of substantially channel shape in horizontal section, is adapted to move downwardly when the bread carriers are moved to their lower toasting position.

Since the eiect of the tension spring 49 is to cause a quick lupward movement of the bread carriers, I provide shock absorber means comprising a cylinder 63 at the rear end of the toaster, which cylinder is mounted against the rear intermediate wall 43. This cylinder and a piston and a piston rod 85 which has a loose connection with the bracket 6| as by extending through a horizontal lug 61 are adapted to take up the shock which would otherwise be given to the entire relatively light toaster assembly.

The rear lifting handle 21 which is of suby stantially L-shape, having at its upper end a substantially horizontally extending portion 69 is suitably secured against the rear end wall of the toaster casing 2|. The front lifting handle 29 is made in three parts and includes a central movable portion 1| which is of substantially the same shape as the adjacent parts of the handle 29. The downwardly manually-movable portion 1| is adapted to be held in its proper operative position by tting into a recess 13 in handle 29. the side walls of the recess being undercut as shown at 15, the width of the rear part of recess 13 being greater than the front portion thereof so as to hold the member 1| in its proper operative position within the front handle 29.

The recess 13 connects with a lower fiat recess 11 which is adapted to provide space for the lower end portion 19 of member 1|. I provide further a metal plate 8| (see Fig. 8) which is held against the rear surface of handle 29 to substantially completely cover the recesses 13 and 11.

The front end portion of arm 4| has pivotally mounted thereon a short 'horizontally extending arm 83 and a vertically extending arm 85. The enlarged front end portion of arm 83 is adapted to loosely fit a shallow recess 81 in the rear surface member 1| so that when an operator presses downwardly on member 1|, he will cause downward movment not only of the arms 83 and 05, but also of arm 4| and therefore of the bread carriers from their upper non-toasting position into their lower toasting position. v

Means for holding the bread carriers in their lower toasting positions comprising a latch 89 and a latching member 9|, which latter is pivotally mounted on a pair of lugs 93 struck up from member 25. 'I'he latching member 9| is provided With a substantially vertically extending integral portion 95 having a laterally extending lug 96 thereon which is adapted to extend over the arm 4| and hold the same when the same has been moved downwardly. During the downward movement of arm 4| a projection 91 on the lower edge of arm 4| is adapted to engage theupper surface of arm 9| and cause turning movement thereof in a clockwise direction against the biasing spring 99 until the outer end of the right-hand end as seen in Figs. 9 and l1 is engaged under the hook-shaped end of latch 89.

'I'he toaster includes also means for controlling the energization of the toast heating elements comprising particularly the resistor strips 31, this control means comprising a pair of fixed contacts |0| insulatedly mounted on and supported by the bottom plate 25 and a contact bridging member |03 which is insulatedly supported as by a resilient member |05 which is secured to arm 4|.

The toaster structure includes also a thermal timing means for controlling the length of time that the latching member 9| is hooked under the latch 89 and will now be described. An electricinsulating plate |01 is secured against the under surface of the front raised portion of the bottom plate 25 and has secured thereto a bimetal bar |09 which is pivotally mounted on a pin mounted on plate |01. Rigidly secured to the left-hand end portion of bimetal bar |09 is a rigid arm ||3 having at its right-hand or free end an adjustable arm I5 secured thereto, which has an upwardly extending portion ||1 of substantially T-shape in section. An electric heating element II9 is insulatedly mounted on bimetal bar |09.

Energization of the heating element I9 is controlled by two arms |2| and |23 which extend partially in parallel relatively to each other on the under surface of electric insulating member |01, while the end portions thereof extend in two vertical planes relatively to each other aswill be noticed particularly in Fig. 16 of the drawings.

A stop bar |25 of substantially L-shape is pivotally mounted on a pin |21 which is suitably secured against a plate |29 which is secured as by means of one or more short machine screws |3| against the under surface of bottom plate 25. Stop bar |25 is provided with a recess |33 at the junction of the vertically and of the horizontally extending arms. The bimetal bar |09 is adapted during the cycle of operation of the toaster to ilt into the shoulder comprising the recess |33. The latch 89 is pivotally mounted on a pin |35 which is also secured against plate |29. Latch 89 has a forwardly extending lug |31 for a purpose which will be hereinafter described. The latch 89 is biased forwardly or into a counter-clockwise direction by a spring |39 connected to a horizontally extending arm constituting a part of the latch 89.

The stop bar |25 has integral therewith a lateral extension |4| which has at its outer vertically extending end a small member |43 of electric-insulating material which normally engages the lower surface of arm |23.

It is desired to first energize the auxiliary heating element ||9 and then to deenergize the same in order to flrst heat up the bimetal bar |09 and then to cause the same to be cooled. A spring |44 is adapted to bias the bimetal bar 09 to normally occupy the position shown particularly in Fig. 17 of the drawings. If we now assume that heating coil ||9 has been energized, the bimetal bar |09 will tend to flex in a counter-clockwise direction as seen when looking at Fig. 16 but is prevented from doing so by reason of its engagement in the shoulder formed by recess |33 in stop bar |25. However, the rigidly connected rigid arm 3 ls caused to turn in a counter-clockwise direction as seen in Fig. 16 of the drawings until the left-hand end of member ||1 engages an adjustable stop |45. This stop |45 may comprise nothing more than a screwthreaded small rod which may be turned so that its inner end portion |41 extends more or less inside of the side wall of the bottom plate 25 seen in Fig. 16. It is evident that Awhen stop |45 has been screwed in that the inner end portion |41 will normally be closer to the left-hand end portion of member ||1 than if it had not been screwed in to such an extent. The engagement o1' the right-hand end portion of member ||1 with the end of portion |41 will therefore cause a right-hand iiexure of the outer end of bimetal bar |09 with the result that the bimetal bar will move out of the recess |33 and permit downward movement of stop bar |25 as well as of member |43 with the result that two contacts on the free ends of arms |2| and |23 will move into engagement with each other thereby short-circuiting the auxiliary heating coil IIS.

The latch 89 has pivotally mounted thereon a substantialy horizontally extending arm |49 which has a laterally extending lug |5I, which lug is adapted to be moved into a plane which will be traversed by portion I1 during the cooling of bimetal member |09 consequent upon the deenergization as by short-circuiting, of the auxiliary heater ||9. This engagement of portion ||1 with member |5| will cause a release movement in a clockwise direction of latch I9 whereupon spring 49 will cause quick upward movement of the bread carriers 39 into non-toasting position.

If the operator should desire to stop the toasting operat;on before it is stopped as just has here# inbefore been described, it is only necessary to cause upward movement of portion 1| of the front handle which will cause engagement of member 85 with a vertically extending lug |55 of an arm |51 pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on a pin |58 on the upper surface of bottom plate 25.

The stop bar and particularly its vertically extending arm is of arcuate shape and is adapted to be moved in a counter-clockwise direction when arm 4| is returned to the position shown in Figs. 9 and 10. This is effected by a rod |59 extending laterally from arm 4|, which arm engages the inner surface of stop bar |45 as is shown more particularly in Figs. 10, 12 and 13 of the drawings, with the result that inner end of stop bar |25 is raised to cause upward movement of insulating member |43 and resultant disengagement of the two contact members on the contact arms |2| and |23.

Means for adjusting the length of time that the bread carriers are held in ihelr toasting or lower positions comprises a knob |6| which is positioned at the right of the metal plate 8| as y is shown more particularly in Figs. 6 and '1 of the drawings.

In earlier toasters having substantially the same kind of thermal timer as herein described but the means causing movement of bread carriers from their non-toasting positions to their toasting positions was entirelyy ditierent and comprised a separate knob adapted to be pressed by an operator. In my invention I provide a toaster lifting means which has a portion of one of the handles so shaped that it can be moved downwardly by an operator in order to start a toasting operation.

Downward movement of part 1| may also be e'ected by downward pressure on part 1| by the cperator's thumb, while his index and second tinger are below the horizontal parts of handle 29.

I wish to point out that the details of the thermal timer constitute no part oi my present invention but have been, illustrated and described so as to show the parts that are connected with and actuated by part 1| Various modifications may be made in the device embodying my invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and all such modifications clearly coming within the scope of the appended claims shall be considered a part of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a toaster, the combination with a casing, heating means in said casing for toasting bread, a bread carrier in said casing, means for moving said carrier relative to said heating means between a toasting position and a. non-toasting position, and a movable member actuable for effecting such relative movement, of, a handle outside of said casing secured to the toaster. said handle having a linger-engaging portion suitable for engagement by the hand for lifting andi carrying said toaster, an operating handle having a ringer engaging portion, means separate from said movable member for supporting said operating handle for vertical movement on said toaster along a path that lies alongside said first handle,

a stop for preventing upward motion of said operating handle beyond a position at which its linger-engaging portion lies alongside the :lingerengaging portion of the iirst handle, whereby said linger-engaging portions of said two handles may be used in conjunction for lifting and carrying the toaster, and means operatively connecting said movable member to said operating handle for movement thereby.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said connecting means between the two parts, one the movable member and the other. the operating handle, include a horizontal tongue on one of said parts extending into a socket between upper and lower abutments on the other part.

3. The combinationuof claim 1 wherein. said operating handle is supported for vertical sliding movement on said casing of said toaster, and

wherein said stop also is on said casing.

l D. SCOTT CAMPBELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,198,374 Overbury Sept. 12,1916 1,836,686 Sehling Dec. 15, 1931 1,949,124 Kuhn et al Feb. 27. 1934 2,266,045 Ireland Dec. 16, 1941 ,o 2 288,699 Gomersau et a1 July '1. 1942 2,358,766 Lucia Sept. 19. 1944 2,414,325 Newell Jan. 14, 1947 2.429.183 Goldberg Oct. 14, 1947 

